'Deeply sorry': Rebel Wilson apologises for plus-size claim

Rebel Wilson has apologised for incorrectly claiming that she was the first-ever "plus-sized girl" to have a lead role in a romantic comedy.

The Australian actor made the comments while promoting her upcoming filmIsn't It Romantic. The backlash was swift, with people pointing out on Twitter that Wilson had seemingly forgotten about Queen Latifah and Mo'Nique's respective starring roles in 2006 movies Last Holiday and Phat Girlz.

The comments even earned a rebuke from Mo'Nique herself, who told the Australian to "take a moment and know the history". On Tuesday, Wilson finally issued a mea culpa.

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"In a couple of well-intentioned moments, hoping to lift my fellow plus sized women up, I neglected to show the proper respect to those who climbed this mountain before me like Mo'Nique, Queen Latifah, Melissa McCarthy, Ricki Lake and likely many others," she said.

"With the help of some very compassionate and well-thought out responses from others on social media, I now realise what I said was not only wrong but also incredibly hurtful. To be part of a problem I was hoping I was helping makes it that much more embarrassing and hard to acknowledge.

"I blocked people on Twitter because I was hurting from the criticism, but those are the people I actually need to hear from more, not less. Again, I am deeply sorry."

Isn't It Romantic is due to hit cinemas in early 2019. Wilson, who produced the movie, plays a woman trapped inside a romantic comedy after finding herself disillusioned with love.

The movie also stars Australian actor Liam Hemsworth, as well as Adam DeVine and Priyanka Chopra.